chapter twelve

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chapter twelve

• Power and Politics

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Electronic Data Interchange and the Ontario
Dental Association
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Background to the Case

• Events surrounding EDI represent a painful
  episode in the history of the ODA, events which
  have never fully been resolved
• The ODA relived the EDI conflict with many
  subsequent issues
• If we understood the nature of the conflict over
  EDI, could we improve the capacity of the ODA to
  deal effectively the other issues that confront
  it in the future?

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Case Synopsis

• Case describes the events surrounding the
  introduction of EDI by the ODA
• A storm of controversy ensues and swirls around
  the Chair of the EDI Task Force, Dr. Steve Smith
• Case presents the perspectives of 4 people deeply
  involved in this conflict Two proponents of EDI
  and two dissenters
• All 4 are strongly committed to dentistry

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Objectives

• To clarify and distinguish immediate from more
  basic problems which may be clouding the
  interpretation and resolution of problems
• To illustrate how theories of conflict,
  communication, and leadership may be used to
  analyze and resolve the problems in this case
• To illustrate a conflict which has transcended
  substantive issues and moved to an emotional and
  personal level
• To stimulate creative approaches to rebuilding
  communication and trust in an organization which
  has been fractured by destructive conflict

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Individual versus Organizational Power

• Legitimate Power
• Reward Power
• Coercive Power
• Expert Power
• Referent Power French and Ravens

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Power versus Authority

• Power
• Authority
• Power Sources for Top Management
• Vertical power
• formal position
• resources
• decision control
• network centrality
• Power Sources for Middle Managers
• Power Sources for Lower-Level

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Which for top management, mid, lower? formal
position rules and precedents participation in
task forces rewards for innovation approvals for
non-routine decisions resources relation to
current problems task variety control of decision
premises and information contact with senior
officials rewards for unusual performance network
centrality task flexibility participation in
conferences
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The Trend Toward Empowerment

• Reasons for Empowerment
• Elements of Empowerment
• Empowerment Applications
• The Empowerment Process
• Diagnose
• Engage in empowerment practices
• Provide feedback

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When is Empowerment needed?

• Times of Transition
• When gap exists between performance and potential
• If employee motivation/commitment problem exists

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How to Empower?

• Positive emotional environment
• Express Confidence
• Foster Initiative and Responsibility
• Build on Success - pilot projects, early
  victories
• Manage context, not people. People manage
  themselves!
• TRUST and TRUTH (real info)

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Cautions about Empowering

• Focus on financial aspects
• Abdication
• Cloning - you make the decision, but make it my
  way
• You cannot give responsibility, people must take
  it
• Insecure managers cannot empower

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Transformational Leadersget followers to
transcend their own self-interests for the sake
of the team, organization, larger policySkills
Requiredanticipate changing environmentvision
skillsshared purposesvalue-congruenceempowermen
t skillsself-understanding
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Horizontal Power

• Strategic Contingencies
• Power Sources
• Dependency
• Financial resources
• Centrality
• Non-substitutability
• Coping with uncertainty

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Political Processes in Organizations

• Definition
• Power ability to influence
• Politics activities to obt ain outcomes

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Rational Choice versus Political Behaviour

• The rational model
• The political model
• The mixed model They vary on

goals and preferences power and control decision
processes rules and norms, information beliefs
about cause and effect decisions ideology
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Domains of Political Activity

• Structural Change
• Interdepartmental Coordination
• Management Succession
• Resource Allocation

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Using Power and Political Influence

• Tactics for increasing the Power Base
• enter hi uncertainty
• create dependencies
• provide resources
• satisfy strategic contingencies

• Political Tactics for Using Power
• build coalitions
• expand networks
• decision premises
• legitimacy, expertise
• preferences explicit,
• power implicit

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Jim Donovan (A)

• How should Jim play it when he gets to Milwaukee?
• If you had been Jim Donovan, how would you have
  liked to have had your succession to the
  Presidency of Famous Products planned?

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Jim Donovan (B)

• What are appropriate ways to handle this
  situation?
• What should Jim Donovan do in the long term at
  Famous Products?

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Strengthen Others

• Make heroes of other people. Kouzes and Posner
• If you tell people where to go, but not how to
  get there, you will be amazed at the results.
  General George Patton
• The best executive is one who has sense enough
  to pick good men to do what he wants done, and
  self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with
  them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt

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Strengthen Others

• Have regular great huddles and chalk talks to
  keep people informed about your organizations
  performance. The more that people know about
  whats going on in the organization, the better
  off youll be. Information empowers people,
  strengthening their resolve and providing them
  with resources they need to be successful.
  Kouzes and Posner

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Strengthen Others

• create a climate where people feel involved and
  important
• ensure self-leadership by putting people in
  control of their own lives
• believing in others by extending responsibility
• show sensitivity to others by making them feel
  strong and capable

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Strengthen Others

• increase choice by providing greater
  decision-making authority and responsibility
• develop competence by making every employee
  business literate and by sharing information with
  employees
• assign tasks critical to success
• offering visible support

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Leadership The Art of Empowering Others

• Conger, Organizational Dynamics
• empowering practices
• practice of empowering others is at the root of
  organizational effectiveness
• enhance personal status and identity of employees
• rewarding and encouraging in visible and personal
  ways
• expressing confidence in others abilities
• fostering initiative and responsibility
• early victories reinforce sense of power and
  efficacy

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Navigating the Journey to Empowerment

• Randolph, Organizational Dynamics
• empowerment is releasing into the organization
  the power that people already have in their
  wealth of useful knowledge and internal
  motivation
• empowerment is easy to understand, hard to
  implement
• Share Information
• need to know how the company is doing
• helps to understand the business
• raises the level of trust
• key issue is how people use information to solve
  problems

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Navigating the Journey to Empowerment

• Autonomy Through Structure
• vision statement as a collaborative effort
• understood vision in terms of ones job
• goals become milestones of progress
• create new decision making rules
• establish performance management processes
• continuous training to learn new skills
• Teams Become Hierarchy
• encourage and support change to teams
• managers need to relinquish control
• overcome the leadership vacuum
• acknowledge the fear factor